2014 NFL AFC/NFC Championship Picks

AFC Championship Game

New England @ Denver

Well we’ve seen this before. Once again Peyton Manning and Tom Brady will face off with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. Only difference is the new location for Peyton as the Broncos are one win away from realizing the dream they installed when they signed Peyton. Of course the always resilient Tom Brady and the New England Patriots stand in their way in the matchup that we all wanted to see. In their first matchup this year it was a close victory by the Patriots that was a special teams mistake from being a possible tie after the Broncos blew a 24 point lead. This sundays entry into the Manning vs Brady story will be a close one as usual especially now that the Broncos defense has to pay extra attention to the Patriots running game after last week they ran all over the Colts. I think being so close to the promise land and after the disappointment last year the Broncos will reach the Super Bowl  beating the Patriots by a late field goal. Denver 31 New England 28

NFC Championship Game

San Francisco @ Seattle

Similar to the AFC Championship Game, the NFC Championship Game has the matchup that we all wanted to see. The third meeting of the NFL’s newest, greatest rivalries, the Seahawks and the 49ers. This game has me torn. On one hand I picked the 49ers in the beginning of the year to win the NFC and go to the Super Bowl. On the other hand, I like the Seahawks this year more and of course the game is being played in Seattle with their crazy 12th man which will swing the game towards the Seahawks. The Seahawks need Russell Wilson to have a better game than he did against New Orleans and more like the previous match up this year at home against San Francisco, so I think he will have a great game and will lead the Seahawks to New York against the Broncos in the Super Bowl. Seattle 27 San Francisco 20

Fantasy Football Hits & Misses For Week 2

Hit

Julian Edelman WR, New England vs NY Jets
With Danny Amendola most likely out thursday night and with not a lot of reliable options for Tom Brady, look for Edelman to get a lot of looks from Tom. After catching 7 passes and pulling in two touchdown passes last week against Buffalo, expect more of the same this week making him a starter in a lot of leagues.

Julius Thomas TE, Denver @ NY Giants
After a huge game opening night on thursday, a lot of people were comparing Julius to last years first week darling, Kevin Ogletree. I think that comparison is going too far and I can’t see Thomas fall off the face of the earth like Ogletree did last year. Mainly considering Peyton Manning is throwing to him rather than Tony Romo, no offense to Romo just like Manning a lot better. He most likely won’t have a 161 yard, 2 touchdown game but he will still be a productive tight end in the Denver pass happy offense.

Cecil Shorts WR, Jacksonville @ Oakland
Now that Chad Henne is the starter for the injured and worse quarterback Blaine Gabbert the offense in Jacksonville will open up and Cecil will see a lot more targets. Only getting three catches against Kansas City killed Shorts fantasy value in week one, but this week playing Oakland will get Cecil back to the projections everyone had for him in the offseason.

Miss

Ben Roethlisberger QB, Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati
The Pittsburgh offense last week against Tennessee was a disaster saved by a garbage time touchdown to make the final score look closer than the game. This monday night they play an even better defense in Cincinnati on the road so a low scoring, low offensive game is to be expected and a night of struggles will come to Big Ben.

Roddy White WR, Atlanta vs St. Louis
Roddy White last week against the Saints playing with a high ankle sprain and severely struggled only catching 2 balls for 19 yards and missing the amount of practices this week as he has I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t suit up. Even if he does play he won’t be the usual number one wideout he has been making him a very frustrating start for all of his fantasy owners.

Any Denver Running Back @ NY Giants
This one could be on this list every week after the lack of performance from all of them in week one. The combination of Monte Ball, Knowshon Moreno, and Ronnie Hillman rushed for only 67 yards on 21 carries. And seeing how pass happy the Broncos offense has been, don’t expect many monster fantasy games from any Denver running back this week included.

Andrew’s NFL Championship Round Picks

AFC Championship Game

Baltimore @ New England

The Patriots and the Ravens meet once again in a rematch of last years memorable AFC Championship Game where the Ravens had the Super Bowl in their hands and dropped it. Now they return this year to fight for the same prize, but on the Ravens side they have a little more inspiration then they have had in previous years. Now that the Super Bowl is in site, Ray Lewis in his final year will be pushing even harder (if that was even possible) to get back to the big game where he won his first ring over a decade ago. On the other sideline is another great to play the game, Tom Brady. He leads the Patriots back to the AFC Championship game where now it seems like a given every year. After last years tough loss to the Giants in the Super Bowl, the Patriots want redemption this year. Tom Brady will get the Patriots offense moving over the Ravens Defense to get out to a lead but the Ravens will find a way to get it close. The Patriots will pull away late and return to the Super Bowl. New England 27 Baltimore 20.

NFC Championship Game

San Francisco @ Atlanta

Speaking of teams returning to the Championship weekend, the San Francisco 49ers return after their own heartache last year. This year, lead by red hot QB Colin Kaepernick, the Niners have returned to the Championship game to extract a bit of revenge from the loss last year to the Giants. Playing the “Giants” this year will be the Atlanta Falcons who got their illusive playoff win last week by blowing a lead to the Seattle Seahawks and just getting it back to squeak out a win and advance. Speaking of future hall of famers who’s last ride will be this year, Tony Gonzalez has just about said he will hang up his cleats after this postseason and this is the farthest he has ever gone in the postseason. The Niners, after dismantling the Packers last week, will start fast against the Falcons but the Falcons will counter and the game will be close throughout. The Niners will score late and face off with the Patriots in the Super Bowl. San Francisco 31 Atlanta 28.

Andrew’s NFL Divisional Round Picks

Baltimore @ Denver
This is the reason why Denver brought in Peyton Manning, to win these deep postseason games and take the Broncos back to the super bowl. Peyton has already silenced all of his critics who didn’t believe he could play at his normal level again and now he must perform in the postseason to continue his magical season. One player standing in his way is Ray Lewis who in all likelihood is playing in his last game. Denver’s offense will pick apart the Raven defense and end the career of one of the best to play in the NFL. Denver 31 Baltimore 17.

Houston @ New England
Let’s all hope this will be a more competitive game than the week 14 beat down the Patriots put on the Texans. It should be after the Texans win last week over the Bengals and the added extra inspiration from the Boston Globe. However I still think the better team will win and that team is the Patriots. The Patriots offense needs to push around the Texans stout defense and possible defensive MVP J.J. Watt. The Patriots win, closer than the previous matchup, but still advance to the AFC Championship game in Denver. New England 27 Houston 14.

Seattle @ Atlanta
If Atlanta can’t win a playoff game at home this year, they may never. But they picked the worst matchup possible with the red hot Seahawks. It seems like the same story just about every year Atlanta is a top seed. They have a week off and play a low seed who is playing their best football and Atlanta plays flat and gets knocked out. They just can’t lose again. Matt Ryan will finally play a complete postseason game and the Falcons will eek out that illusive playoff win. Atlanta 20 Seattle 17.

Green Bay @ San Francisco
By far my favorite matchup of the weekend, the Packers vs the 49ers just has that classic game feel to it. This will be the first postseason game for the Niners electric young QB Colin Kaepernick and it will be interesting to see how he handles the moment. The Green Bay D will have to contain Kaepernick if they want a chance to win. The Packers offense will have to compete with the Niners always tough defense led by Aldon Smith. I will take Aaron Rodgers and the Packers to beat Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers and advance to the NFC Championship game. Green Bay 28 San Francisco 24.

Andrew’s 2012 NFL Projections

2012 NFL Projections

AFC

East

1. New England (1)

2. Buffalo (6)

3. NY Jets

4. Miami

North

1. Baltimore (2)

2. Pittsburgh

3. Cincinnati

4. Cleveland

South

1. Houston (4)

2. Tennessee

3. Indianapolis

4. Jacksonville

West

1. Denver (3)

2. San Diego (5)

3. Kansas City

4. Oakland

NFC

East

1. Philadelphia (3)

2. NY Giants

3. Dallas

4. Washington

North

1. Green Bay (1)

2. Chicago (5)

3. Detroit

4. Minnesota

South

1. Atlanta (4)

2. New Orleans (6)

3. Carolina

4. Tampa Bay

West

1. San Francisco (2)

2. Seattle

3. St. Louis

4. Arizona

Playoffs

AFC Wild Card

(3) Denver 38, (6) Buffalo 17

(5) San Diego 24, (4) Houston 19

NFC Wild Card

(3) Philadelphia 28, (6) New Orleans 20

(5) Chicago 20, (4) Atlanta 17

AFC Divisional Round

(1) New England 32, (5) San Diego 20

(3) Denver 27, (2) Baltimore 16

NFC Divisional Round

(1) Green Bay 38, (5) Chicago 31

(2) San Francisco 20, (3) Philadelphia 10

AFC Championship Game

(1) New England 23, (3) Denver 20

NFC Championship Game

(1) Green Bay 28, (2) San Francisco 24

Super Bowl

Green Bay 31, New England 28

Andrew’s Super Bowl XLVI Predictions

Were finally here.

After two long weeks of breaking down every angle of the game. Every strength and weakness about each team has been looked at over and over and over again. All of the players for both teams getting quizzed about every aspect of the game all week the entire time being reminded of the game that they are playing and the pressure that is packaged with it. And with the matchup we have for Super Bowl XLVI is almost guaranteed to be a great one.

We get the rematch of one of the greatest Super Bowls ever played with the New York Giants and the New England Patriots facing off in Indianapolis. The Giants try to win their 2nd Super Bowl in 4 years and second consecutive Super Bowl win over the Patriots. Eli Manning attempts to put his name in the elite category by winning his second Super Bowl and more importantly to the media passing his older brother, Peyton Manning, with more Super Bowl rings 2 to 1.

If the Patriots want to take this game they will have to improve on their 31st ranked pass defense as they have for the most part all through the playoffs. They will have to get in Eli Mannings face early and often and must not let him sit in the pocket untouched. As it has been all week Rob Gronkowski will be a big story on Sunday. The Pats will have to establish the threat of Gronkowski early so they keep him in the mind of the Giants early and free up other players against the stingy Giants pass defense.

On the Giants side they will have to keep Eli clean and off the turf as they struggled to do against the 49ers. Eli must continue his success on third down as he did in the NFC Championship against the Niners. The Giants have to spread the field on the relatively weak Patriots pass defense. The Giants defense must contain Tom Brady and the exciting Patriots offense and the Giants offense must also keep up with the Patriots. Simply put, the Giants must run the same gameplan that they set up when they beat the Patriots in Foxboro earlier this year.

The fact that the Giants are over confident for this game have me a bit nervous but if you make it this far you have to be a little confident  in your team. I have a feeling Tom Coughlin has got this team game ready and kept them away from the media jumping onto their bandwagon. Speaking of coaches one of the best all time will be on the other sideline in Bill Belichick and he just might have his team ready to play as well.

This game just like the Super Bowl matchup before this will be a extremely close game throughout with no one team pulling away. The strong Giants front defense will have to get pressure on Brady and control the rushing attach from the Patriots. If Eli can get time to throw the Giants can use their deadly staff of receivers to pick apart the Patriots defense. Victor Cruz will be used a lot and we will see some salsa dancing in the endzone at least once. Nicks will find the endzone as well. The Patriots will keep up through the air as well using Wes Welker a lot. The game will come down to the last final minutes as Eli will lead the Giants down the field just like he has done in the previous two meetings and score a late touchdown as the Giants will beat the Patriots again and win their 2nd Super Bowl in 4 years.

NY Giants 27 New England 24

Andrew’s NFL Championship Picks

AFC Championship Game

Ravens @ Patriots

Everything went to seed for this matchup to happen between the Ravens and Patriots. The Pats absolutely dominated the Broncos in just about every aspect of the game. Tom Brady and the offense set several NFL Playoff records while the defense played their best game they have played all year breaking a 3 game losing streak in the playoffs. The Ravens handled the Texans well enough to take advantage of T.J. Yates mistakes and win a rare home playoff game. Now they travel to New England where the Patriots seem to have their postseason magic back after it has been missing for a few years. The big match-ups will be between Brady and the Patriots offense and Ray Lewis and the Ravens defense. If the Pats offense can establish any run game it will make Brady’s afternoon a lot easier. Even without the run game Brady has the ability to pick apart any defense and I expect him to continue doing such. Another big match-up will be Joe Flacco against the Patriots defense. The only way the Ravens will win this game is if Flacco does not make turnovers and can make big plays against the Patriots often poor defense. This game will be close the whole way but the Patriots will pull ahead late and hold on to return the the Super Bowl. New England 24 Baltimore 21

NFC Championship Game

Giants @ 49ers

You would usually see this matchup on ESPN Classic but this this is happening now. Eli Manning is trying to back up his statement in the beginning of the year about being a elite quarterback and making it to another Super Bowl. He will have his work cut out for him against the tough Niners defense. The Giants offense is not as lethal as the Saints was last week but they will still be a handful for the 49ers. The Niners offense needs to hold off the pressure from the Giants defense which the Packers could not do last week. This will be a defensive battle that will stay close the entire game. Both offenses will struggle against the two stingy defenses but the Manning and the Giants will hit a last minute field goal and send the Giants back to the big game. NY Giants 17 San Francisco 14